On Saturday November 29, three nominated films for the International Short Film Competition were screened at NTT Cred Hall No. 2. The program featured three works shown in succession: “A Misfit Tiger”, “The River Runs Still”, and “PAPER CRANES & BLUE FROG”.
As the audience basked in the afterglow, a talk session started with the creators and cast members of the three works. The speakers included Bennial Soo, Director of “A Misfit Tiger”, Director Mai Huyền Chi, who made “The River Runs Still”, Mr. Toki Sakamoto, the lead actor of “PAPER CRANES & BLUE FROG”, along with Atsuko Morimune from the Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-Visual Library and interpreter Pauline Baldwin.
Director Soo explained that “A Misfit Tiger” was born from his own experiences in Taiwan. The film follows a Malaysian father searching for his son missing in Taiwan. Director Soo looked back that the scene in which the son tells his father he “got exhausted,” was inspired by his own experience that he wanted to say the same word to Soo’s father. If he could develop the story as a feature-length film, he said he would focus on the son’s emotional journey and depict how the gap between Malaysian and Taiwanese life gradually pushed him toward depression.
Director Chi Huyền Mai turns her attention to the boat people living along the Vietnam–Cambodia border in “The River Runs Still”. She shared that the large woman featured in the film is a real resident of the local community—someone she hoped the audience would truly see. To include a memorable scene in which she bursts into hearty laughter, Director Mai intentionally restructured the sequence, even knowing that the result might look unnatural. As Director Mai reenacted the moment during the talk, the atmosphere in the hall visibly softened. Director Mai’s feature film, “THE RIVER KNOWS OUR NAMES” (2024) is also a must-see.
Director Chavo’s “PAPER CRANES & BLUE FROG” was filmed on location in Hiroshima and portrays a boy’s journey. Lead actor Toki Sakamoto shared that this project marked his first visit to Hiroshima and to monuments related to the atomic bombing. He described his performance in the film as “my natural expressions.”
One scene that left an impression on him was the moment when the father finds his child. Because the scene required him to cry loudly late at night, many residents from a nearby apartment came out onto their balconies to watch what was going on. Mr. Sakamoto added with a laugh that he and the crew kept their belongings packed so they could run at any moment “in case someone called the police,” a remark that filled the venue with warm laughter.
